Optoelectronic devices interact with radiation and electric current. The interaction can be photoelectric where the device converts incident radiant energy (e.g., in the form of photons) into electrical energy. Optoelectronic devices often tend to be high voltage and low current devices. Currently many optoelectronic devices, e.g., thin-film photovoltaic (PV) cells and organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) are made by depositing patterns of material on a substrate to form the various device layers, e.g., a bottom electrode, an active layer stack and a top electrode (plus auxiliary layers), of individual devices. For example, in the case of PV cells, typically all the bottom and top electrodes as well as the active PV layer stack are patterned to create individual PV cells that are later series-wired. The patterning is typically done via laser or mechanical scribing, or photolithographic patterning. This patterning adds extra processing steps and often introduces complications that can reduce the yield of useful devices. For example, laser patterning or mechanical scribing may result in a condition known as overscribing where the scribing cuts too deeply into one or more layers. Similarly, such scribing techniques may result in underscribing where the scribing does not cut sufficiently deep into one or more layers. Furthermore, many scribing techniques can generate debris that may be inadvertently and undesirably incorporated into the finished devices. All of these effects may interfere with proper device performance or cause catastrophic failure of devices and thereby add to the overall cost of useful devices.
Furthermore, certain conventional thin-film PV cells, e.g. Mo/CIGS/CdS/TCO or TCO/CdS/CdTe/top metal or stainless steel/insulator/metal/a-Si PV stack/top TCO, require patterning steps and may also need insulators on metal foil substrates. Techniques for singulation into individual cells, e.g., laser scribing, often can not be used on such cells because of the associated risk of also cutting the underlying bottom electrode (e.g. Mo).
Thus, there is a need in the art, for a method for manufacturing optoelectronic devices that overcomes the above disadvantages.